Games › Dungeon Crawler › Dungeon Crawler + Modern
Should I ship a Modern-Day Dungeon Crawler?
Dungeon Crawler + Modern
Only 13 developers shipped a Modern-Day Dungeon Crawler in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×3.2 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $7.0M, ×14788 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 21 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
| Top 25% | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) |
| Top 5% | $7.0M (exactly $7,024,244) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue too few recent games to read momentum, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dungeon Crawler
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Modern
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Dungeon Crawler; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, JRPG, Party-Based RPG
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 9 games average 86% positive over 6,082 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 21 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dungeon Crawler with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Time ManagementFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DiceFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + Word GameFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + DwarvesPoor odds
Comparable games
Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition 2026 · $7.0M 
大千世界 2020 · $274k 
Mega Mall Story 2022 · $81k 
Girlfriend Rescue 2015 · $41k 
Alisa's Grimoire 2025 · $39k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition | $39.99 | 5,855 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,024,244) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. | |
| | 大千世界 | older | $3.99 | 2,289 86% | 69k | $274k (exactly $273,993) | 滑稽工作室 |
| | Mega Mall Story | older | $8.99 | 302 94% | 9.1k | $81k (exactly $81,449) | Kairosoft Co.,Ltd |
| | Girlfriend Rescue | older | $9.99 | 138 81% | 4.1k | $41k (exactly $41,359) | Aldorlea Games |
| | Alisa's Grimoire | $16.99 | 77 87% | 2.3k | $39k (exactly $39,247) | Circle Kurasuke Warehouse | |
 | Makai Agito | $9.99 | 72 94% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,578) | Gumi Bytes, Dani Sugimoto-Lee | |
 | Unable to Exit 8 | older | $4.99 | 139 74% | 4.2k | $21k (exactly $20,808) | Robot |
 | Advent Crossroad | older | $9.99 | 30 90% | 900 | $9.0k (exactly $8,991) | NANKADA |
 | Demon Corporation: Onboarding | $6.99 | 42 95% | 1.3k | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) | A Shrine of Ludens | |
 | Crystal Story: Dawn of Dusk | older | $5.99 | 34 67% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | Fred Brown |
 | Rolling Ball: HD Remaster | $59.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $3.6k (exactly $3,599) | SUNYU Games | |
 | Lust Knight Lisa | $14.99 | 5 60% | 150 | $2.2k (exactly $2,248) | Overlord Empire LLC | |
 | NECRONOMICAT | $4.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | GROOVY GORY GAMES | |
 | Дейтсим Говна | $2.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) | Traxmaster Productions | |
 | Cage Girl | $4.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | MCGame | |
 | Labyrinthesis | $5.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | crabbyCoder |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.